Faust: Parts One and Two

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Robert David MacDonald (Translator)

Overview

The power and magic of the Faust story, the man who, in a pact with the Devil, trades his soul in return for a period of total knowledge and absolute power, is one of the most potent of all European myths. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) worked on this poetic drama in burst from his twenties until the end of his life. He reshaped the perpetually fascinating legend, probing the nature and process of human striving and questioning the assumed divisins between the forces of good and evil. His Faust has become a landmark in world literature.

Robert David MacDonald's translation of Faust, used in acclaimed productions in Scotland (Glasgow Citizens') and England (Lyric Hammersmith), offers access to the play in the English language for readers and playgoers alike and opens up the extraordinary range and pace of Goethe's language, rhythms, imagery and ideas, without sacrificing any of the play's humour. The Open University has adopted the translation as a set book for the course entitled 'From Enlightenment to Romanticism'.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781870259118
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/01/1998
Series:	Oberon Classics
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.47(d)

About the Author

Robert David MacDonald (1929-2004) was born in Elgin, Scotland. After originally training as a musician, he worked as a Director, Playwright and Translator. As an Assistant Director, he worked at both the Glyndebourne Opera Festival and for the Royal Opera House. In 1971, he became Co-Artistic Director of the Glasgow Citizens Theatre, where he directed fifty plays and wrote fifteen for the venue before his retirement in 2003. The plays that he wrote for the Glasgow Citz include The De Sade Show (1975), Chinchilla (1977), Summit Conference (1978), also seen in the West End with Glenda Jackson and Gary Oldman, A Waste of Time (1980), Don Juan (1980), Webster (1983), Britannicus (2002) and Cheri (2003). As a translator, MacDonald translated over seventy different plays and opera from over ten different languages including The Threepenny Opera, Tamerlano, Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, The Marriage of Figaro, Orpheus and The Human Voice, Conversation at Night, Shadow of Angels, The Balcony, The Government Inspector, Tasso, Faust I and II, Ibsen's Brand and Hedda Gabler, Lermontov's Maskerade, Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba, Moliere's School for Wives and Don Juan, Pirandello's Enrico Four, Racine's Phedre, Schiller's Mary Stuart, The Maid of Orleans and Don Carlos, Chekhov's The Seagull, Verne's Around the World In Eighty Days, Wedekind's Lulu and Goethe's Clavigo. His adaptation of War and Peace ran for two seasons on Broadway and received an Emmy award when shown on U.S television. The Finborough Theatre has previously presented Robert David MacDonald's versions of Rolf Hochhuth's Soldiers (2004) and The Representative (2006)

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

FIRST PART OF THE TRAGEDY.

(Continues…)

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Table of Contents

Faust: Part 1

Dedication 1

Prelude on The Stage 3

Prologue in Heaven 9

Scene I Night (Faust's Monologue) 13

Scene II Before the City-Gate 25

Scene III The Study (The Exorcism) 35

Scene IV The Study (The Compact) 44

Scene V Auerbach's Cellar in Leipzig 58

Scene VI Witches' Kitchen 67

Scene VII A Street 76

Scene VIII Evening 78

Scene IX Promenade 82

Scene X The Neighbor's House 84

Scene XI Street 88

Scene XII Garden 90

Scene XIII A Garden-Arbor 94

Scene XIV Forest and Cavern 95

Scene XV Margaret's Room 99

Scene XVI Martha's Garden 101

Scene XVII At the Fountain 104

Scene XVIII Donjon (Margaret's Prayer) 106

Scene XIX Night (Valentine's Death) 107

Scene XX Cathedral 111

Scene XXI Walpurgis-Night 113

Scene XXII Walpurgis-Night's Dream 124

Scene XXIII Dreary Day 130

Scene XXIV Night 132

Scene XXV Dungeon 132

Faust: Part 2

Act I.

Scene I A Pleasant Landscape 141

Scene II The Emperor's Castle 145

Scene III Spacious Hall (Carnival Masquerade) 154

Scene IV Pleasure-Garden (Paper-Money Scheme) 180

Scene V A Gloomy Gallery (The Mothers) 185

Scene VI Brilliantly Lighted Halls 189

Scene VII Hall of the Knights, Dimly Lighted 191

Act II.

Scene I A Gothic Chamber, Formerly Faust's 197

Scene II Laboratory (Homunculus) 204

Scene III Classical Walpurgis-Night 210

1 The Pharsalian Fields 210

2 Peneus 217

3 On the Upper Peneus, as Before 224

4 Rocky Coves of the Ægean Sea 238

5 Telchines of Rhodes 245

Act III.

Before the Palace of Menelaus in Sparta 252

Act IV.

Scene I High Mountains 299

Scene II On the Headland (The Battle) 307

Scene III The Rival Emperor's Tent 319

Act v.

Scene I Open Country 327

Scene II In the Little Garden 329

Scene III Palace 330

Scene IV Dead of Night 334

Scene V Midnight (Faust's Blindness) 337

Scene VI Great Outer Court of the Palace (Faust's Death) 341

Scene VII Mountain-Gorges, Forest, Rock, Desert 351

Editorial Reviews

This edition of Goethe's , translated by Walter Arndt (emeritus, humanities, Dartmouth College), contains over 100 pages of interpretive notes, as well as excerpts from both contemporary and modern criticism and analysis of the piece. Hamlin (German and comparative literature, Yale U.) offers extensive introductory and supporting material which will allow readers to gain a deeper understanding of Goethe's masterpiece. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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